GEOLOGY
Formed well below the earths surface millions of years ago, wind,
water and ice have eroded away the granite leaving behind the
mountain's amazing rock formations. The sedimentary rocks that
originally covered the area (and some of the metamorphic rocks of the
contact zones) can still be seen at places on the road to the mountain
top.
Pegmatites and Dykes will be found in the granites of mount Buffalo by
the observant person (although not crystal rich as are the pegmatites
of the Beechworth Granites). Xenoliths are also interesting and quite
common.

Explorers Hume and Hovell named
Mount Buffalo in 1824 as they passed through the area on their way from
Sydney to Port Phillip Bay traveling through what is now the Wangaratta /
Glenrowan ares. They likened the mountain to a sleeping buffalo in the
distance. This explains the names for the granite tors such as
the Horn and the Hump.